Black-and-white Warbler

Mniotilta varia · Warblers

Black-and-white Warbler creeping along a branch

Green-Wood Cemetery, 29 August 2026

A Black-and-white Warbler side-on at Green-Wood at the end of August, body low and parallel to the bark, weight over the feet. It breeds across the deciduous woods of the East and winters from Florida to Peru, and it is one of the earlier warblers to move in autumn.

The stance is exactly what a nuthatch or treecreeper uses, and a genuine oddity within the warblers, which mostly work leaves rather than trunks. The hind claw is longer than any other warbler's for the job. Sex is hard to call from this angle: males in autumn have a solidly black throat and cheek that fades on females and immatures to white or grey-streaked, and the light here doesn't settle it either way.

Black-and-white Warbler

Green-Wood Cemetery, 29 August 2026

A Black-and-white Warbler at Green-Wood at the end of August, one of the earlier warblers to head south in autumn and one of the earlier ones back in spring. It breeds across the deciduous woods of the East and winters from Florida to Peru, and it passes through Brooklyn in numbers at both ends of the summer.

The only warbler that behaves like a nuthatch, working up and down trunks and along the underside of branches probing bark crevices rather than gleaning from leaves. An unusually long hind claw and a slightly decurved bill are the adaptations that let it forage this way. Streaked black and white all over with no yellow anywhere, which rules out almost everything else it could be confused with.

Black-and-white Warbler

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 26 August 2026

A Black-and-white Warbler on a trunk in the Botanic Garden at the end of August, already heading south. It breeds in the deciduous woods of the East and Canada and is one of the earliest warblers to move in autumn, some birds on the way by late July, well before most of the family gets going.

One of the few warblers built to work bark rather than leaves: the short legs and long hind claw let it creep up, down and around a trunk the way a nuthatch does, probing crevices for insects other warblers can't reach.

Black-and-white Warbler

Central Park, 21 September 2025

A Black-and-white Warbler creeping along a branch in Central Park in September, on its way south from the eastern woods to Central America. It is one of the earliest warblers north in spring and one of the earliest south again, because bark insects are there before the leaves are.

Striped head to tail in nothing but black and white, and built to match: a stout, slightly curved bill and strong feet for creeping along bark and probing crevices the way a nuthatch does, rather than gleaning leaves the way most other warblers feed.